Takeda Katsuyori

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼: 1546 – 3 April 1582) was the son of Takeda Shingen and father of Takeda Nobukatsu and Takeda Katsuchika.

Katsuyori succeeded to his mother's Suwa clan and gained Takato Castle as his domain. After his elder brother Takeda Yoshinobu died, Katsuyori's son Nobukatsu became heir to the Takeda clan, making Katsuyori de facto ruler of the Takeda clan. He took charge of the family after the death of Shingen and fought Tokugawa Ieyasu at Takatenjin in 1574 and at Nagashino in 1575. He captured Takatenjin, which even his father could not; this gained him the support of the Takeda clan.

Katsuyori incurred the wrath of the Hōjō family by helping Uesugi Kagekatsu against Uesugi Kagetora who was Hōjō Ujiyasu's seventh son, adopted by and heir to Uesugi Kenshin.

He lost Takatenjin in 1581 and this led clans like Kiso and Anayama to withdraw their support. His forces were destroyed by the combined armies of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu at Temmokuzan in 1582, after which Katsuyori and his son Nobukatsu committed suicide.

There has been rumours that Oda Nobunaga had great pleasure in seeing Katsuyori decapitated head, since the Takeda clan had always been his biggest rival.

The article incorporates text from OpenHistory.